The Red and the White (1968) dir. Miklós Jancsó
Starring: József Madaras, Tibor Molnár

****

Thanks to my readers who commented on my "Long Take" article, I have discovered the cinema of Miklós Jancsó. My entry is "The Red and the White". Trying to describe Jancsó’s ode to Russian Revolution is difficult. There is no traditional plot, no tradition characters – it drops the audience into the front line of the war between the Reds and the Whites in the violent years just after the Russian Revolution. Jancsó matter-of-factly shows us both sides of the conflict with complete dispassion. It’s not documentary-like either, as in “Bloody Sunday” – it’s a cinematic experience unto itself and a dazzling anti-war film.

The film starts on the front line of the Russian Civil War of 1919 (aka Red and White War). The Reds are the Bolshevik Army who have just overthrown the Czarist monarchy. They were comprised not just of Russians, but workers from Romania, Hungary and Poland and other European countries. The Whites were a coalition made up of Czarist loyalists who wanted to overthrow the new Communist government. They were backed by and in many cases fought by other European soldiers and armies.

The film opens in the Russian countryside with a wonderful dolly and crane shot as a platoon of Whites pursue a group of Hungarian Reds across a hillside. Some are captured and some escape. The escapees wander into a Hospital barracks, where they receive care. Soon after the Whites catch up to them and pillage the premises looking for more Red soldiers. The film fluidly moves back and forth across both sides of the war. In the hospital the point of view inconspicuously moves to the White side of the battle. At times the soldiers don’t know who is on whose side and neither do we. After all it was a civil war fought by multinationals on both sides. Jancsó doesn’t care about confusing the audience though - the brutality of war is his main concern.

The film was meant to be propaganda, but often times great films come from these political restrains, the films of Mikael Kalatozov (“I am Cuba”), Sergei Eisenstein (“October”) and Leni Reifenstahal (“Triumph of the Will”) come to mind. In fact, “The Red and the White” was born from a commission by the Soviet government to make a film commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution.

There is more than just a thematic kinship with Kalatozov’s fantastic “I am Cuba”. Both films use breathtaking long takes and wide-angle black and white cinematography. The scene when the Red captain makes the White captives take off their shirts and run throughout the barracks like released animals at a fox hunt is brutal and humiliating, but expertly shot and choreographed. The use of wideangle landscape shots in the finale battle is a tremendous piece of cinema and reminiscent of the epic battle in “Spartacus”.

Ironically, "The Red and the White" is an anti-war film masquerading as propaganda. Despite being a commission of the Soviet Government, the Soviets were not pleased with the Jancsó’s cut, and had the film re-edited to make the Reds more heroic. The film eventually was banned in the Soviet Union, but not before it was released in the U.S. and Hungary and became one of Jancsó’s most beloved films.

Kino has a barebones DVD available. The transfer is from the print, which means the cigarette burns and handling scratches are visible, but it’s still beautiful to watch and a must see for all cinephiles. I can't wait to discover Jancsó's other films. Any suggestions? Enjoy.

Buy it here: The Red and The White

Note: This is a compilation of shots set to different music:

Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) dir. Béla Tarr
Starring: Lars Rudolph

****

I have to thank two kind and informed readers who brought to my attention the cinema of Béla Tarr. Tarr is Hungary’s finest filmmaker, an art house director known for enigmatic metaphysical films which have only been accessible to theatre audiences through film festivals. Since his 1979 debut feature “Family Nest” Mr. Tarr has kept his output sparse – 8 films in 18 years, and only 3 films in the 90’s and 00’s. But next week Tarr will premiere his latest film (“The Man From London”) at the Cannes Film Festival.

Tarr was brought to my attention in the discussion this week of ‘The Greatest Long Tracking Shots in Cinema” – a lengthy and detailed commentary produced a breadth of films I need to discover including the films of Béla Tarr.

“Werckmeister Harmonies” is a masterful film and the highest achievement of artistic cinema. In a small secluded Hungarian town we are put in the shoes of a young man named Janos (Lars Rudolph), who delivers newspapers around the town. He’s probably never left the city limits, and so he has a youthful curiosity to him, like a sequestered genius trapped in a world too small for his ambitions – think Jim Carrey’s character in the “Truman Show”. In the 9mins long take opening shot Janos demonstrates to the local townsfolk the concept of the orbit of Earth in the solar system using the people as planets moving them around each other. It's a wonderful moment.

One night a traveling circus-type attraction arrives into town - a taxidermed display of a giant blue whale housed in a large truck. The added attraction is the arrival of an enigmatic “Prince” whom the townsfolk describe as revolutionary-type of motivational speaker (though we actually never see the Prince, he is just referred to in conversation). With the arrival of these visitors brings fear and paranoia into the village. Fear of the influential words of the Prince causes a split in the town between radicals and traditionalists. Janos is caught in the middle as he is roped into spying for a local police task force seeking to find village subverters. The Prince makes his speech and incites a village-wide riot.

Story and traditional narrative is secondary to Tarr’s magnificent visual design. Shot in stark, high contrast deep focus black & white, the film evokes a bleak, barren and depressing mood to the town. The film is likely a metaphor for the downfall of Communism in the previous decade. The revolutionary fervour and the xenophobic paranoia, I’m sure parallels the atmosphere of post-Communist Hungary. After watching this film I’m convinced Tarr is indeed the master of the long take, his slow steadycam and tracking moves are reminiscent of Andrei Tarkovsky and Stanley Kurbick. Each scene is crafted in a one or two shots, lasting 5-10mins each. The riot in the hospital which featured dozens of actors demolishing everything in site was captured in one magnificent steadycam move. The other magnificent scene is Janos’ tour around the Whale – the shot starts in the courtyard, follows Janos into the truck and around the gigantic beast. It’s wondrous and poignant ecological and biblical metaphor.

And so, I have to ask, Béla Tarr, where have you been all my life? Perhaps it’s because his films have rarely seen the light of day in North American. Béla Tarr as a cinema master is a word-of-mouth filmmaker, we’ll never see his films in multiplexes, at Blockbuster, or at the Oscars. But thanks to Chicago-based distributor Facets, his films are now available on DVD.

I put this film in the order of Fellini’s and Orson Welles’ best work. Every shot in the film is a work of art. It’s a slow meandering film, which is purposely oblique and excessive lengthy and requires much patience. Tarr lingers on shots to the point of uncomfortableness, which elevates the film from entertainment to pure art.

I HAVE to see the rest of Tarr’s work now. Tarr is the ‘crystal meth’ of filmmakers, one film and you’re hooked. I have 7 other films to watch of his, including his latest – “The Man From London” - which will premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Enjoy.

Buy it here: Werckmeister Harmonies

Here’s the brilliant opening: